happily as their children would let them. They had four, differing
widely in their tastes and convictions. One son enlisted in the German
army; the other in the French. Both were deeply grieved to have fallen
on evil times, when emperors and presidents were ever proclaiming the
blessings of peace, and when even the people were beginning to question
the desirability of attacking their neighbours.

Of the daughters, one loved the Germans, and was unhappy because she was
to marry a Frenchman her parents had selected; the other hated the
Germans, and was broken-hearted because she was not to marry the
Frenchman she loved.

It must all end happily, however, for it is essential that the moral
should be pointed: Love your neighbour, if only to show you are
unshackled by prejudice. Marry him or her, whether he or she is your
hereditary foe or not, and settle down to a life of peace and happiness,
that you may inaugurate, by your noble example, the blessed era, when
the lion and the lamb shall no longer hesitate to go and do likewise.

But not often was it my good fortune to spend a pleasant hour as at
Saint Denis and to imagine little romances built on slight foundations.
The tragedy being enacted around me forced itself on my view more than
once, when I met batches of miserable prisoners marched off, some to be
judged by court-martial, others already sentenced to be shot. The
Parisian looked on without exhibiting much interest in their fate. He
had seen so much of bloodshed in every form lately that he had grown
callous. The day of settlement had come, the murder of the hostages must
be avenged, and the _canaille_ must be cleared away, just as the broken
glass and the wrecked barricades had to be.

The reign of terror continued; it had only changed its name. Now it was
called Justice. Shocking specimens of depraved humanity were those
ill-fated prisoners, dragged from their haunts to be tried by the
military authorities in Versailles.

I saw types such as only come to the surface when conflicting passions
of the worst kind stir up the very dregs of society: dishevelled
viragos, brutalised men, female fiends, men devils--hyaenas, ready to
spring and fasten their claws on you, were they not chained. I heard
their howl of despair and their laugh of defiance, as they were led off
to be shot.

And thus, whilst the beautiful city was smoothing her ruffled feathers
and taking out a new lease of life, the poor wretches met thei